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UMTS WCDMA handover or handoff - tutorial, overview of the basics of handover or handoff within UMTS detailinghard handover, soft handover, softer handover and inter-RAT UMTS GSM

handover.

Handover or handoff is as important for UMTS as any other form of cellular telecommunicationssystem. As with any other cellular telecommunications system it is essential that UMTShandover is performed seamlessly so that the user is not aware of any change. Any failureswithin the UMTS handover (or UMTS handoff) procedure will lead to dropped calls which willin turn result in user dissatisfaction and ultimately it may lead to users changing networks,thereby increasing the churn rate.

It is worth noting that the two terms UMTS handover and UMTS handoff have the samemeaning. UMTS handover tends is the terminology that tends to be used within Europe, whereas

UMTS handoff is more likely to be used within North America.

UMTS handover types

Within UMTS it is possible to define a number of different types of UMTS handover or handoff.With the advent of generic CDMA technology, new possibilities for effecting more reliableforms of handover became possible, and as a result one of a variety of different forms of handover are available depending upon the different circumstances.

For purely inter W-CDMA technology, there are three basic types of handover:

Hard handover: This form of handover is essentially the same as that used for 2G networkswhere one link is broken and another established.

Soft handover: This form of handover is a more gradual and the UE communicatessimultaneously with more than one Node B or base station during the handover process.

Softer handover: Not a full form of UMTS handover, but the UE communicates with more thanone sector managed by the same NodeB.

UMTS GSM inter RAT handover: This form of handover occurs when mobiles have to changebetween Radio Access Technologies.

Each of the different types of handover is used on different occasions dependent upon theconditions. Further details of each type of UMTS handover are given in the individual sections below.

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UMTS hard handover

The name hard handover indicates that there is a "hard" change during the handover process. For hard handover the radio links are broken and then re-established. Although hard handover shouldappear seamless to the user, there is always the possibility that a short break in the connection

may be noticed by the user.

The basic methodology behind a hard handover is relatively straightforward. There are a number of basic stages of a hard handover:

1. The network decides a handover is required dependent upon the signal strengths of the existinglink, and the strengths of broadcast channels of adjacent cells.

2. The link between the existing NodeB and the UE is broken.3. A new link is established between the new NodeB and the UE.

Although this is a simplification of the process, it is basically what happens. The major problem

is that any difficulties in re-establishing the link will cause the handover to fail and the call or connection to be dropped.

UMTS hard handovers may be used in a number of instances:

When moving from one cell to an adjacent cell that may be on a different frequency. When implementing a mode change, e.g. from FDD to TDD mode, for example. When moving from one cell to another where there is no capacity on the existing channel, and a

change to a new frequency is required.

One of the issues facing UMTS hard handovers was also experienced in GSM. When usage

levels are high, the capacity of a particular cell that a UE is trying to enter may be insufficient tosupport a new user. To overcome this, it may be necessary to reserve some capacity for newusers. This may be achieved by spreading the loading wherever possible - for example UEs thatcan receive a sufficiently strong signal from a neighbouring cell may be transferred out as theoriginal cell nears its capacity level.

UMTS soft handover

Soft handover is a form of handover that was enabled by the introduction of CDMA. Soft

handover occurs when a UE is in the overlapping coverage area of two cells. Links to the two base stations can be established simultaneously and in this way the UE can communicate withtwo base stations. By having more than one link active during the handover process, this

provides a more reliable and seamless way in which to perform handover.

In view of the fact that soft handover uses several simultaneous links, it means that the adjacentcells must be operating on the same frequency or channel as UEs do not have multipletransmitters and receivers that would be necessary if they were on different frequencies.

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When the UE and NodeB undertake a soft handover, the UE receives signals from the two NodeBs and combines them using the RAKE receiver capability available in the signal processing of the UE.

In the uplink the situation is more complicated as the signal combining cannot be accomplished

in the NodeB as more than one NodeB is involved. Instead, combining is accomplished on aframe by frame basis. The best frames are selected after each interleaving period. The selectionis accomplished by using the outer loop power control algorithm which measures the signal tonoise ratio (SNR) of the received uplink signals. This information is then used to select the bestquality frame.

Once the soft handover has been completed, the links to the old NodeB are dropped and the UEcontinues to communicate with the new NodeB.

As can be imagined, soft handover uses a higher degree of the network resources than a normallink, or even a hard handover. However this is compensated by the improved reliability and

performance of the handover process. However with around 5 to 10% of handovers falling intothis category, network operators need to account for it.

Note on the RAKE receiver

A RAKE receiver is a form of radio receiver that has been made feasible in many areas by theuse of digital signal processing, DSP. It is often used to overcome the effects of multipath

propagation. It achieves this by using several sub-receivers known as "fingers" which are given a particular multipath component. Each finger then processes its component and decodes it. Theresultant outputs from the fingers are then combined to provide the maximum contribution fromeach path. In this way rake receivers and multipath propagation can be used to improve the

signal to noise performance.

UMTS softer handover

A form of handover referred to as softer handover is really a special form of soft handover. It is aform of soft handover that occurs when the new radio links that are added are from the same

NodeB. This occurs when several sectors may be served from the same NodeB, therebysimplifying the combining as it can be achieved within the NodeB and not require linking further

back into the network.

UMTS softer handover is only possible when a UE can hear the signals from two sectors served by the same NodeB. This may occur as a result of the sectors overlapping, or more commonly asa result of multipath propagation resulting from reflections from buildings, etc.

In the uplink, the signals received by the NodeB, the signals from the two sectors can be routedto the same RAKE receiver and then combined to provide an enhanced signal.

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In the downlink, it is a little more complicated because the different sectors of the NodeB usedifferent scrambling codes. To overcome this, different fingers of the RAKE receiver apply theappropriate de-spreading or de-scrambling codes to the received signals. Once this has beendone, they can be combined as before.

In view of the fact that a single transmitter is used within the UE, only one power control loop isactive. This may not be optimal for all instances but it simplifies the hardware and generaloperation.

Inter-RAT / Intersystem UMTS / GSM handover

In many instances it is necessary for the UMTS radio access network to handover to the 2GGSM network. These handovers are given a variety of names including Inter-RAT handover asthey are handing over between different forms of Radio Access Technology, Intersystem

Handover, and UMTS / GSM Handover. These handovers may be required for one of a varietyof reasons including:

Limited UMTS coverage UMTS network busy whereas spare capacity is available on GSM network

The most common form of intersystem or inter-RAT handover is between UMTS and GSM.There are two different types of inter-RAT handover:

UMTS to GSM handover: There are two further divisions of this category of handover:

o Compressed mode handover: Using compressed mode handover the UE uses the gapsin transmission that occur to analyse the reception of local GSM base stations. The UEuses the neighbour list provided by the UMTS network to monitor and select a suitablecandidate base station. Having selected a suitable base station the handover takesplace, but without any time synchronisation having occurred.

o Blind handover: This form of handover occurs when the base station hands off the UEby passing it the details of the new cell to the UE without linking to it and setting thetiming, etc of the mobile for the new cell. In this mode, the network selects what itbelieves to be the optimum GSM based station. The UE first locates the broadcastchannel of the new cell, gains timing synchronisation and then carries out non-synchronised intercell handover.

Handover from GSM to UMTS : This form of handover is supported within GSM and a

"neighbour list" was established to enable this occur easily. As the GSM / 2G network isnormally more extensive than the 3G network, this type of handover does not normally occurwhen the UE leaves a coverage area and must quickly find a new base station to maintaincontact. The handover from GSM to UMTS occurs to provide an improvement in performanceand can normally take place only when the conditions are right. The neighbour list will informthe UE when this may happen.

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UMTS handover methodology

The decisions about handover are generally handled by the RNC. It continually monitorsinformation regarding the signals being received by both the UE and NodeB and when a

particular link has fallen below a given level and another better radio channel is available, it

initiates a handover. As part of this monitoring process, the UE measures the Received SignalCode Power (RSCP) and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and the information is thenreturned to the node B and hence to the RNC on the uplink control channel.